Rangarajan calls for divestment roadmap

New Delhi: The Prime Minister`s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan on Wednesday said the government should draw up a roadmap for divesting its stake in
state-run companies.

"I would only say that the government should identify the
companies where disinvestment is possible and have a phased
programme of two to three years," Rangarajan told a news agency today.

He further said that it is not good to divest stakes in
all the probable CPSUs in a single year as the market may not
be able to absorb it.

Rangarajan further said that though divestment depends on
the stock markets and valuation of the companies, a programme
can be drawn in a manner in which a proportion can be decided
for each company and the shares can be sold thereafter.

Earlier last month, the disinvestment department had
said there were 60 Central PSUs, including SAIL, BSNL and Coal
India, eligible for selloff as per a decision by the Cabinet.

"We are in interaction on a large number of these 60
companies with their administrative ministries... We are in
interactions with the steel ministry for SAIL, with the coal
ministry for Coal India. On BSNL also, we are talking to the
IT and communications ministry," Disinvestment Secretary Sunil
Mitra had said.